Ah…the wells and I had a conversation this morning, the well asking a question of me: Are you willing to take nourishment we give you and not just share it through teaching and conversation, but pour it into others?
The teaching and conversations are nourishing and have individual impact; the willingness, desire and commitment to pour nourishment into others is a call to action, a call to make a difference.
My metaphorical wells are my personal heart, soul, mind and spirit hydration system… sustaining, energizing, and life giving. There are moments and days in which even a drop is a saving grace.
Today the wells asked me to adopt a new, more spacious perspective, to let go of the boundaries I have unintentionally created in how I describe them…to receive a new image.
It is an image of me, of you, pouring from the well that I am, that you are, to participate in the soul hydration of one another.
Pouring does not have to be a deluge, as we think of when we describe the “pouring rain.” As a child, pouring a cup of tea into china teacups long before 16 oz. mugs was a careful, almost delicate action. We sometimes speak of “pouring a splash of…”
In the children’s book, One Well: The Story of Water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss, she writes:
“Water has the power to change everything. A single splash can sprout a seed, quench a thirst, provide a habitat, generate energy and sustain life.”
THIS is what I know to be true. We can sustain one another’s lives by pouring from ourselves into each other. It might be in our living space, our community or thousands of miles away. In this age of technology there are no geographical boundaries because the pouring is into the heart, mind, soul or spirit of another.
When we pour a splash, or perhaps sometimes a pail full, of compassion, listening, invitation to belonging, love, kindness, comfort, a beckoning to reimagine, a word of acknowledgement, gratitude… simply pouring our presence so it is felt in one’s heart and soul…we might even save a life.
In this world so in need of sustaining presence, of words and actions that grace another, the supply we have to give is not dependent on cargo ships or fearfulhum rumors of empty shelves.
We always have at least a spare drop to give, even if on some days it feels like comparison to the widow’s mite.
And no doubt, when we are attuned, we will know the moment others pour from their well into us, what it is to humbly or exuberantly receive, and desire all the more to pass it on.
Practice pouring until pouring freely is a way of being.
Pour a drop into someone even when it is not easy. That drop might just be what begins to mend a relationship or opens a door.
Let this become what is most contagious around the globe, pouring in grace and joy that which sustains.
